


Eyes of Platinum and Eyes of Sapphire

by ManifestMerlin



Series: ShanceLanceDance Milestone Fics [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Shiro (Voltron), Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Insecure Shiro (Voltron), Kissing, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Love Confessions, M/M, Movie Night, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 06, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 10:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15580077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManifestMerlin/pseuds/ManifestMerlin
Summary: It was the same day as Lotor's betrayal that Lance confessed to Shiro, and it was the same day that he was turned down, and everyone found out that Shiro had been dead. As a spur of the moment decision Lance asked Shiro if he wanted to ride with him for the last leg of the journey to Earth, they could have a "Bro night" and just watch movies and hang out. What Lance was not planning for was for Shiro ro accept, or for him to be quite so affectionate. Shiro meanwhile, could not believe his luck that he had such a good excuse to cuddle his crush.





	Eyes of Platinum and Eyes of Sapphire

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY IT IS COMPLETED! I wanted to get this done months ago but here it is now! This is my fic for my 1000 (now closer to 1500) follower milestone on my blog ShanceLanceDance. Thank you very much to Enikawa_Moriko here on AO3 for betaing this fic and I hope you enjoy! As always comments are very very very much appreciated!

_ “Hey Shiro, there's, something I've wanted to tell you for a while.” _

_ “What is it Lance?” _

_ “Ever since the Garrison-no even before that- you've been my hero. I've always admired you since the first time I heard your name on TV. Getting to meet you and fly with you thanks to Voltron was something I never imagined could happen to me. I thought getting to know you would be some sort of wake up call, I'd find out you were human. Instead I… I… Shiro, what I'm trying to say is-” _

_ “Lance! That's enough, I get it. I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way.” _

_ “I-I understand. I'm going to go to the kitchen while we wait for Allura and Lotor to get back.” _

_ “Make sure you get back on time, finding out what's going on here is vitally important.” _

_ “Got it.” _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ “Shiro, what are you-? URGH!” _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ “He… he tried to tell me. But I-I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry Shiro. I-I didn’t know. I could’ve...” _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ “Lance, I heard from the mice about what happened, are you... alright?” _

_ “I’m just fine princess, nothing to worry about.” _

_ “If you’re sure…” _

_ “I am, don't worry about it.”  _

 

It had been three weeks since the battle with Lotor and team voltron hadn’t been doing much but planet hopping on their way back to Earth. They had just stocked up on Olkarion for the longest stretch of the journey: three months of straight flying with no hospitable planets until they reached Arus, the last stop on their journey before Earth. Everyone had already gotten a bit stir crazy with how long they had been in the lions already. Thankfully basically everyone had a buddy so no one went totally insane, Coran was with Hunk, Matt was with Pidge, Allura had the new altean Romelle, and Keith had his mom and Shiro.

Lance had Kaltenecker and the mice with him which, well it wasn’t as good as a human but there wasn’t anyone else who could bunk with him. Keith’s mom wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Matt. Coran and Hunk also had to get working on making sure all the food was preserved for their journey and Lance was pretty sure Allura wanted to talk to Romelle about the altean colony. That only left Shiro and… Lance was pretty sure he would say no, after all he had told everyone that he remembered everything the clone had, which meant he probably remembered…  _ that _ .

“Lance!” Shiro suddenly called, running up to him in front of the red lion, his new white hair reflecting sunlight. 

“O-oh Shiro? What it is?” Lance asked, taken off guard.

“We’re almost ready to go, are you all packed up?” Shiro replied.

“Yup! The Olkari were able to find a way to interface the altean disks that had been on the castle with our lions so I’m all set to binge watch while on our way there.” Lance replied.

“That sounds like fun!” Shiro nodded approvingly, “I wish Keith had thought of something like that for Black, but i think he just plans to talk to his mom for most of the time.” 

Red suddenly growled in Lance’s mind,  _ “You should invite him onboard!” _

_ “Red no! You already know why don’t pretend!”  _ Lance replied telepathically. 

_ “It’s worth making the shot,  _ **_sharpshooter_ ** _.”  _

_ “...Fine i’ll ask him.” _

“Well you could always bunk with me and join my bro night.” Lance suggested, “This mice and Kaltenecker aren’t the best talkers after all.” he joked. 

Shiro chuckled and it sent a pang of longing directly to Lance’s heart, “I would hope not. Sure it sounds like it’d be a fun time! Let me just go tell Keith and get my stuff out of Black!” Shiro replied before jogging away.

“Oh my god did he really just?” Lance said slowly as his mouth was hanging open.

_ “Told you it was worth it.”  _ Red scoffed.

*************

_ “I’m still sorry.”  _ Black’s familiar voice echoed in Shiro’s mind as he got closer.

_ “Black I told you i’m not upset about Keith being pilot until we get to Earth. I wasn’t a pilot for almost a year I can handle just four more months.”  _ Shiro reassured as he walked over to the colossal figure of his lion.

_ “That’s not what i’m apologizing for.” _

_ “Is it what happened after the battle with Zarkon? I already told you I’m not mad that you couldn’t save my body, you saved my mind and my soul and that’s what counts.”  _ Shiro said.

_ “You could say it’s… related to that.” _

Shiro stopped, it wasn’t like Black to be so cryptic,  _ “Black what’s wrong?” _

_ “It isn’t my place to say.”  _ Black responded, quieter this time.  _ “I’m sorry you missed… the bonding you could’ve had with your fellow paladins. Just… Don’t spend the next three months only watching movies.” _

_ “You were listening to that? Black what do you mean? Black?”  _ Shiro asked, but Black had seemingly cut the connection. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Shiro you okay? You look like you were spacing out.” Keith asked.

Shiro shook his head,”No it was nothing. I was just talking to Black. Speaking of which, I’m going to ride with Lance if that’s okay. Could you help me moving my boxes?”

“Sure I can,” Keith said with a smile that quickly turned devilish, “Nice to see you’re finally trying to get what you want.”

“K-Keith!” Shiro choked, “It isn’t like that!”

“Sure it isn’t, and me and Krolia look nothing alike.”

“It really isn’t!” Shiro insisted.

Keith just shrugged in response, “I’m just saying you might as well try, it’s pretty obvious he likes you too.”

“If he did before he sure won’t now, i’ve changed even more.” Shiro said, moving his arm to touch his hair.

“He literally started openly sobbing over your corpse Shiro.” Keith said, bending down to get the first box and handing a smaller one to Shiro. “HEY HUNK CAN YOU COME HELP US OUT!” he suddenly shouted.

“Coming!” Hunk called back as he rushed over before skidding to a stop upon seeing how flustered Shiro was. “Oh you needed help dealing with Shiro’s crush on Lance?”

“That and also moving Shiro’s stuff into Red since he’s riding with Lance.” Keith said, ignoring Shiro’s sputtering. 

“That’s great! You finally stopped your pining!” Hunk beamed.

“It isn’t a date!” Shiro said exasperated. 

“He asked you?” Hunk asked and Shiro nodded. “Then make it a date.” he said before bending down and picking up the last box. “Your clone even seemed to like him, Lance was the only person who he told about not feeling like himself. Heck, I only know because Lance told me.”

Shiro went still, “He did?”

Hunk nodded.

“Alright then, I’ll try.” Shiro sighed.

“Good, watching you admire him while he was training back when we started this mess was really irritating to see.” Pidge said, passing by with her own box, eliciting another round of choking fit from Shiro.

Out of the corner of his eye however, Shiro caught Allura staring at him with an unreadable expression, she must have heard since the Black and Blue lion’s were directly next to each other. She had the mice in her hands and when she saw him staring at her she snapped back to talking to them. Shiro couldn’t read lips well but he did catch ‘protect him.’ before Allura bent down and let the mice scamper back to the Red lion.

Shiro couldn’t help but be worried that Allura didn’t trust him around Lance, but it couldn’t be because she was worried he would lose control again, she knew better then anyone that he wouldn’t, so what was it?

*************

“Alright you ready Shiro?” Lance asked.  They had just left Olkarion and Red had gone into autopilot, so now Shiro and Lance stood at the door to the lion’s cargo hold.

“Yes Lance of course I am.” Shiro said smiling fondly.

_ “He’s just being nice as a friend, just a friend.”  _ Lance repeated to himself.

_ “Bet he isn’t, bet he isn’t.”  _ Red sang back to him before Lance angrily cut the connection. He was trying to get rid of his crush not make it worse!

“Then behold!” Lance said, opening the door to reveal what he had done with the space. 

Shiro stood in awe, looking at how much Lance had changed. There was a large Olkari cube near the wall-how they were going to play the movies- and opposite that was a couch with a multitude of pillows and a big fluffy blanket, there was also a miniature fridge and a basket full of alien versions of popcorn and chips. Kaltenecker had her own space, a fenced off square carpeted with grass from Olkarion. The mice immediately scampered in from their place in the cockpit and made a beeline for the couch.   
“Welcome to Casa de Lance.” Lance said, gesturing to the space like he was Vanna White. 

“How did you get this set up so fast?” Shiro asked, his mouth hanging open.

“Sheer force of will!” Lance said, puffing his chest out proudly while Shiro only stared blankly at him. 

_“That went over well.”_ Lance thought bitterly. “Well anyways! Why don’t you get set up on the couch and i’ll put in the first movie! You got any preferences?” he said.

Shiro thought for a moment before replying, “Maybe like a fantasy romance?”

_ “Oh, romance, fantastic just what I need when trying to hide a crush!”  _ Lance thought. “On it boss man!”he replied.

As Shiro walked to the couch following the mice, Lance ran over to the video cube and tapped it on the side. After a moment a video tray slot opened up and underneath it a shelf of altean disks. Lance picked one out, a series which had been highly praised by Coran, and plopped it in before grabbing the remote that went along with it. As he turned around however what he saw almost made him start choking. 

Shiro was looking almost illegally cute. He had set up the pillows all around the couch and had tucked the blanket around him making only his head stick out. As Lance turned around Shiro stopped looking at something the mice were trying to mime out to stare at Lance with a small smile and laughing eyes. It took all of Lance’s willpower to not confess again right there. 

“Did you put the movie in?” Shiro asked.

“Yup!” Lance squeaked, “Y-Yeah yup movie is in you ready to watch the movie? I’m ready to watch the movie let’s watch the movie!”

“Here sit next to me!” Shiro said as he scooted over to show he had left extra couch and blanket space for Lance.

Lance sat down wordlessly, trying to fight off a blush, before pressing play. Lance brought the popcorn bowl into his lap as the opening played. Every so often as the movie went on Shiro would reach his arm over to where Lance was sitting and grab a handful, otherwise it was fairly uneventful. That was, until Shiro started to scoot closer about halfway through the movie. 

“Shiro you okay?” Lance asked, his voice trembling only slightly.

“The blanket is getting stretched.” Shiro said simply before scooting closer to Lance and resting his head on Lance’s shoulder.

_ “Th- no this isn't happening this can't be happening is this a dream? I must be dreaming right? There is no way in real life Takashi Shirogane would be c-” _

Lance's thoughts were cut off by a sudden movement from Shiro who proceeded to snuggle closer.

_ “Oh ok then this  _ **_is_ ** _ happening great awesome fantastic WHAT THE FUCK HE IS CUDDLING ME! Alright calm down Lance just calm down it's just cause the blankets stretched it doesn't mean anything.”  _ Red thankfully decided to stay silent, although she did scoff in the back of his mind.

*************

Holy shit it was happening. Holy shit it was actually happening. Shiro was actually getting to cuddle with Lance.

_ “Alright Shiro play it cool, play it cool. Just turn up the romance a bit more, you've got this… Wait… HOW THE HELL DO I DO ROMANCE? What did his grandfathers say again? Something about small talk? A good first opener was…” _

“H-Hey Shiro could you pass the-” 

“WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL?” Shiro yelped, interrupting Lance.

Lance stared at him with a startled look on his face, his hand pointing over at one of the snack bags on the other side of Shiro.

_ “Success!”  _ Shiro thought upon seeing the light blush dusting Lance's cheeks.

“Oh-Uh I like sharks. Especially hammerheads!” Lance said, seemingly temporarily forgetting the movie in his haste to answer.

“Really? Why hammerheads?” Shiro pressed.

“Well there was this one summer, before I joined the Garrison, I worked part-time at an aquarium as a tour guide. Everytime I would pass by the big shark tank there was this one hammerhead shark, her name was Jawles -like a mix of Jaws and Jules- and everytime she would bump into the tank and then twirl next to it like she was trying to cuddle up with all of us so she was always my favorite but then Sharkdon - shark plus sheldon - our tiger shark, would always get jealous and try to do the same but he would-” Lance continued his rambling story, but Shiro had stopped paying attention, he was too intently focusing on how relaxed and happy Lance looked as he told his story. He had looked so unsettled at first, even though he was in his own lion. 

**_“Maybe it was you, Lance is probably terrified of you. After all the clone beat up everyone when he took Lotor. You're probably bringing back bad memories just by being here. You should be ashamed of yourself for bei-”_ **

“AND THEN we had to feed the penguins, gosh those five were such pranksters-” Lance suddenly shouted, breaking Shiro out of his intrusive thoughts.

“You must have gotten along great with them then.” Shiro interrupted, “I mean like you-”

**GWRAHHHHHHHH!**

Both of jumped at the sound, a dragon had just shown up while they were talking and was currently wreaking havoc on the hero’s army, seemingly the climax of the first part of the series.

“Aw crap! I was rambling… sorry about that Shiro you probably wanted to watch that rather than listen to me.” Lance said before looking down guiltily. The dragon let out another roar in the background along with someone screaming but Shiro was more focused on the man in front of him than with the one on the screen.

“What? No Lance!” Shiro said as Lance raised his head wearily to look up at him, “You're a great storyteller! I love listening to you…” Shiro said as his voice turned soft and he moved his hand up to brush a lock of Lance's hair back  behind his ear and gave him the most gentle smile he could.

That was when everything went so very wrong. Lance began to cry, it was just a few tears but then he went straight to outright sobbing in only a few seconds.

**_“Look what you've done you monste-!”_ **

_ “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” _ Shiro tried to drown out his own mind.

“Lance are you okay what's wrong?”

*************

_ I don't feel the same way. _

_ I don't feel the same way. _

_ I don't feel the same way I don't feel the same way I don't feel the same wayIdontfeelthesamewayIdontfeelthesameway _

Those words kept repeating as Shiro's recent words rang in his head:  _ I love listening to you.  _ Combined with everything else it was just too much, he was helpless to stop the waterworks. He must have made for such a sorry sight, going from fine to openly sobbing in a matter of seconds. 

“Lance are you okay what's wrong?” Shiro’s voice rang clear through the chaos and his words struck just the wrong chord.

“Y-Yeah it's just-” Lance paused to glance at the movie, the hero lay bleeding out as the heroine sobbed over his dying body, “It's so s-sad right? I mean those two were perfect for each other!”

Shiro looked at him skeptically, “Lance neither of us have been paying attention to the movie for the last twenty minutes. What's wrong? You can tell me. Unless… is it me? Did I do something?” Shiro asked, his voice quieting as he went.

_ “Oh did he do something?”  _ Lance thought bitterly.

“Playing dumb are we?” Lance spat venomously, “Like you don't know full well what's wrong,  _ Takashi Shirogane _ !” He finished, saying Shiro's name like it was a curse.

Shiro became so startled he jerked back, just barely catching himself from falling down with his arm. “L-Lance? What do you mean, I don't know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh stop lying!” Lance snapped, all of his anger since the offending incident coming out at that moment, all directed at Shiro, “You already told everyone you had the clone’s memories! You know what he did, and he was just like you in every way. It's not like you would have said anything different anyways.”

Shiro’s face suddenly contorted in a mix of shock and fear before he slung his arm and gripped Lance by the bicep, “What did he say? Lance, what the hell did he say?!” Shiro asked frantically.

“Go pick at your memories, you have all of them anyways.” Lance spat as he turned away.

There was a pause before Shiro spoke again, through gritted teeth “Most. I have  _ most  _ of my memories. All except for one day. Lance… when did this - whatever this is - happen?”

Lance turned back slowly to see Shiro’s face reflection pure desperation. Lance swallowed, “I- It happened the same day as your clone going berserk, when Allura went into the rift with Lotor and Keith came back.” he murmured.

“Lance.” Shiro replied softly, too softly, “When I- when my clone was taken over by Haggar, Pidge said it basically corrupted it's memories for several hours before and after the take over.”

Lance felt his own face twist in shock as more tears poured down his face, “Sh-Shiro I'm sorry I didn't know I I-”

“Lance.” Shiro choked out, “Please. What did he say?” 

Lance took in a shudder breath as he wiped his eyes, “Might as well start from the beginning then!” He said with a wet chuckle.

_ “No time like the present.”  _ He thought before he began.

“I told him how, even before the Garrison, I've always admired you. Getting to meet and fly with you thanks to Voltron was a dream come true! I knew how everyone always says to never meet your heroes, but getting to meet you and realize you were human… It just- it- He turned me down pretty fast. Just kinda opened up the wound, since you’ve been so- so affectionate but I mean, you basically already turned me down. I shouldn't have taken it out on you it-its not, it's not your fault. Heck, this probably wouldn't have even been an issue if I could've just heard what you told me back on Olkarion. Then again I screwed that up too huh?” Lance’s eyes never left his hands through his explanation, and Shiro did not say a word.

“I might not remember the clones memories of that day,” Shiro began slowly, “But let me tell you what I  _ do  _ remember. I remember him staring at your lips when you weren't looking and imagining how it would feel to kiss you, I remember him hearing your laugh and his stomach doing somersaults, I remember how much he wanted to roll to pet you when you chose to make your M&M character a cat, I remember him reaching out to you when he felt wrong because he didn't trust anyone else with something so personal, and I remember the moment when he realized that he wasn't me and he made the decision to keep you safe from himself. Lance he-” Shiro choked on his own words before continuing, “He loved you Lance. Besides it does change things. You're right about him being just like me in every way.”

“You- No you don’t you can’t-” Lance mumbled incoherently.

“There's a reason I reached out to you on Olkarion. Lance McClain, I am in love with you.” Shiro seemingly reached his limit himself as it was at that moment that tears started to pour from his eyes. “Am I right to think you feel the same?” he finished as he held Lance's cheek in his hand.

Lance didn't trust himself to speak, he only nodded in response as he felt a warm feeling rising through his chest.

Shiro laughed, “That’s the first piece of good news since I stopped being dead!”

Lance couldn't help but laugh back at Shiro's joy filled face, “Maybe we can share stories of our time outside of life!”

Shiro froze at that, “You died?”

“Yeah but Allura brought me back like right after. No big deal!” Lance quickly reassured, well tried to.

Shiro gave a sigh that indicated they would certainly be talking about it more later but chose not to comment about it.

“Hey Shiro?”

“Yeah Lance?”

“Can I kiss you?” 

Shiro smiled at Lance before slinging his arm around Lance's back to draw them closer together, “I thought you'd never ask.”

Lance moved in slowly, at first their lips just barely brushing each other before dove in and smashed their mouths together, their teeth clacking in his haste. Shiro kissed back like a man dying of thirst taking too much care not to drown. He was soft and purposeful in every movement he made. Lance's hand had moved back around to cradle Shiro's neck and moved to deepen the kiss. They broke away slowly before opening their eyes and staring into each other's eyes. Lance had never had such a close look before but now he could see that Shiro's eyes weren't gray like steel, but instead shown like the glimmer of platinum reflecting the light of the stars.

“I love you.” Lance said breathlessly, “Shiro I love you.”

Shiro touched their foreheads together gently, “I love you too Lance.”

*************

**“MOOOOOOO!”**

Both of them jumped at the sound and fell off of the couch, Kaltenecker had gotten out of her pen and had snuck up on the two of them, the mice riding atop her head.

“Oh come on! “ Lance groaned. “Kaltenecker, I love ya but you can't just interrupt our moment like that!”

Shiro couldn't help but start laughing after that, Lance turning around to stare at him in confusion as they lay on the floor, giving Shiro the chance to look into his eyes properly. Lance's eyes were the deepest blue he had ever seen. Allura’s eyes were shimmery, like if you mixed glitter into a bright blue martini, Lance's eyes were such a contrast, dark blue and smooth like a stone. They looked like the gems on an old sapphire pendant his grandfathers said belonged to his mother. 

“What's so funny?” Lance squawked.

“I'm so hurt Lance, we only just admitted our love to each other and you're already giving it to Kaltenecker?” Shiro said, failing to keep a straight face and instead showing off a shit eating grin.

Lance's eyes suddenly shown with mirth before he propped himself up with an elbow and put his other hand on his hip, “Well before your hair changed you both looked pretty similar, black and white, big pink space on your nose, how could I not!”

They both looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter and collapsing into each other's arms.

“Well that was an emotional roller coaster,” Shiro said jokingly.

“Understatement of the decaphoeb, babe-” Lance began before cutting himself off with a blush.

“I guess so,  _ babe. _ ” Shiro replied with a mischievous smile, “On the other hand at least I got the best in the universe boyfriend out of it!”

Lance’s blush only increased before a determined look crossed his face, “Excuse me? How dare you insult my boyfriend by not saying he's the best!”

It was Shiro's turn to blush at that point, a flush that started from his shoulders and rose through his face. “O-Oh yeah? Well I don't know about you but I'm pretty beat we should sleep haha yup time to hit the hay!” Shiro rambled while Lance snickered. 

“Yeah I'm pretty exhausted too,” Lance replied before standing up, “ You wanna join me on the couch?” he finished with a twinkle in his eyes directed at Shiro's form.

“If you can carry me there.” Shiro replied just as playfully.

Lance raised his eyebrow before bending down, he put one hand behind Shiro's knees and the other behind his back before lifting Shiro up into a princess carry.

“You weren't supposed to be able to actually do it!” Shiro said, his voice cracking.

“Well you weigh a lot less with only one arm. Besides I'll have you know I've been working out more.” Lance teased before he set Shiro on the couch and then lying down behind him. Shiro wordlessly crawled on top of him and rested his head on Lance’s chest, his hand moving around to Lance's shoulder.

_ “Well he wasn't lying about working out.”  _ Shiro thought before blushing. His blush only got worse when he felt one of Lance's hands on his back, the other beginning to card through his hair. Shiro couldn't describe himself as anything more than perfectly content. As he drifted off to sleep he heard the last lines of the movie play: “I have never felt better than in the embrace if your arms my dear.” “And I have never felt better than having you in arms.”

*************

Once Shiro started lightly snoring Lance couldn't help but let out a yawn, Kaltenecker had thankfully drifted off somewhere else. As he drifted off to sleep he reflected on just what a fitting choice the movie had been. With how much it had done for him, he really should watch it properly later. Thankfully he knew he would plenty of time to do so, he had three months to spend alone with his new boyfriend after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Is it just me or is telling someone "I am in love with you." More impactful than just "I love you." Just me? Thought so. Anyways also thanks to Sir Scandalous on Tumblr since it was this piece which i used as a reference to write their final cuddling pose. https://sir-scandalous.tumblr.com/post/171619590295/theyll-get-through-it


End file.
